My co-worker Josiah Carlson rants about what happened to him the other day. I laughed and laughed at "you are idiots." Read it and see to whom he directed that.

A couple of points. First, Josiah and I work for a highly-visible, rich, corporation, and yet....one of the health care plans offered can't gets its act together to make appropriate and needed referrals. The phrase "H1N1 flu" should light a fire under them. You can bet that it drives a geek like me crazy to hear about basic data-management issues like the ones Josiah describes.

Second, I'm a Kaiser member, because of the kinds of issues Josiah ran into. I hear mixed things about some Kaiser medical centers, but I'm pretty happy with Oakland and have gotten good care: no issues with referrals, with getting in to see my doctor, with getting appropriate tests. It's also true that I am healthy as a horse and it's probably that I would be having quite a different experience if I were chronically ill or permanently disabled. (A friend directs a disability rights organization that has been involved with accessibility-issues lawsuits against Kaiser, so I've heard plenty about this.)

Third, if you give a damn about the public option and the success of health care reform, call your Senators and Representatives and let them know about.